I'm looking into getting an XF series camera. Most of the work that I currently do is as a travelling ENG shooter for the Cleveland Indians. That being said, being able to hook the camera up to a production truck with a coax is a necessity. Is it possible to get clean video out of the HD-SDI output or will it have characters and such on it? Does it send out full 1080 video or does it downgrade to 720? Also, I would need to be able to hook up an on camera light and also a wireless receiver at the same time. Is it possible to do this without using any kind of a rail system? Thanks in advance for the help.

Mark

Lemme whip out my trusty manual...

If you want HD-SDI, you'll need the XF305. The XF300 doesn't have HD-SDI. The manual lists the output as SMPTE 292M, Video(1080i/720P) embedded audio, timecode (VITC/LTC)

The onscreen displays to the HD-SDI are switchable, On or Off.

The camera has a standard accessory shoe listed specifically as suitable for on-camera lights, plus a 1/4-20 threaded hole in the top handle for mounting "other" accessories. It doesn't look like it would be too difficult to mount a wireless receiver using the threaded hole and a light using the accessory shoe at the same time.

That said, you might consider getting a shoulder mount. While it's possible to hand-hold the camera without one, it gets sorta heavy in the long run, as it's a "shorty" with no rear shoulder pad and you end up carrying the entire weight on your arms. Add some lights and a receiver, and you might not need a gym membership if you shoot lots of footage.

The owner's manual is available for download from Canon. It covers just about anything you want to ask.

Hope that helps.

Martin

Here's a question. I also have a Rebel T3i. If I shoot video on that, do you think I could play it back with an XF? The easiest solution would be if there was a card reader that had a coax out on it but I have yet to find one.

Not sure what you mean by "play it back on a T3I."

If you mean swapping the card into an XF300, pretty much forget it. The T3I records in H.264 format, not the native XF format.

Martin